Winger

On a team of no names, he was perhaps the most obscure. Quick. Who is No. 10 for the Florida Panthers? Who finished 12th in scoring for the Panthers during the NHL regular season? Who was the sixth choice of the Vancouver Canucks in the 1983 draft? Don't be too hard on yourself if Dave Lowry's name didn't immediately come to mind. The 11-year veteran left winger played all season with Florida in the shadows of such household names as Bill Lindsay, Tom Fitzgerald and Jody Hull.

Watching his team go into last night's game against the Los Angeles Kings with a 4-0 record was a bittersweet experience for Flyers winger Rob DiMaio. A team player through and through, DiMaio was thrilled that the Flyers had taken the NHL by storm and rolled over their first four opponents. But the competitor inside him yearned for more playing time, and DiMaio knew that winning games would not induce coach Terry Murray to shake up the lineup. "It's the times when you're losing that normally things change," said DiMaio, who plays most often on the Flyers' fourth line with center Anatoli Semenov and winger Shawn Antoski.

The Flyers got tougher and younger yesterday when they sent left winger Brent Fedyk to the Dallas Stars for right winger Trent Klatt. Fedyk, 28, was a better-than-average scorer with defensive skills, but he seemed to lack the game-to-game intensity that Flyers coach Terry Murray demands. Klatt, 24, has four goals and four assists in 22 games this season and is expected to join the Flyers in time for tonight's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Spectrum. He will play on the third line - the new "Minnesota Line.

Ken Hitchcock is finally doing what he was meant to do. He succeeded Bob Gainey yesterday as coach of the slumping Dallas Stars, who are in the Central Division cellar at 11-19-9. Gainey resigned Monday, but will remain as general manager. He said Hitchcock was brought into the Stars' organization in 1993 with anticipation of making him an NHL coach. "He has a really strong knowledge of all the players in our organization," Gainey said. Hitchcock coached the Michigan K-Wings, of the International Hockey League, to two consecutive IHL playoff appearances.

Is it too early for the Flyers to start targeting players who would upgrade their sad-sack offense? In a normal 82-game season, probably. In a lockout-shortened 48-game season, no. The Flyers have played only nine games, but that accounts for almost 20 percent of the abbreviated season. Heading into Saturday night's game against Carolina, the Flyers had two goals or fewer in seven of their first eight games. They had a total of seven in their six losses. Several unrestricted free agents this summer will draw the Flyers' attention, but those same players may be available in trades before then.

Kim Johnsson, a defenseman acquired from the New York Rangers in the Eric Lindros trade, signed a three-year contract with the Flyers, the club announced yesterday. The Flyers obtained Johnsson, 25, right winger Pavel Brendl, free-agent left winger Jan Hlavac and a third-round draft pick in 2003 in the deal for Lindros. Johnsson, who is 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, had five goals, 21 assists and 40 penalty minutes in 75 games for the Rangers last season, his second in the NHL. A native of Malmo, Sweden, Johnsson starred at the 2001 world championships for Sweden, which won the bronze medal.

The Flyers and Blackhawks surprisingly swapped part of their futures last night as center Patrick Sharp was sent to Chicago for rookie right winger Matt Ellison. The Hawks also received 29-year-old Phantoms winger Eric Meloche in the deal. The Flyers got a third-round pick in the 2006 draft. Sharp, 23, played in 22 games this season, collecting five goals and three assists, but he was seldom used by coach Ken Hitchcock, who gave him barely eight minutes of ice time a night.

The New York Rangers' checking line, which is supposed to bump the opposition's most dangerous trio, has been hit hard itself this season - by injuries. Including Wednesday night's game against the St. Louis Blues, the Rangers had lost three checking-line players for a total of 30 games. The casualty list includes (in chronological order): Right winger Jody Hull, who missed eight games with a sprained hand and broken toe. He's OK now. Center Kevin Miller, who missed two games on last month's West Coast swing with a sprained left shoulder.

Thirty-two players and seven draft picks changed teams in 16 trades involving 18 franchises yesterday in a flurry of activity before the NHL trading deadline. Although they have the most points in the NHL, the New York Rangers were the busiest team, making five deals. They traded away Mike Gartner, the fifth- leading goal scorer in league history, and winger Tony Amonte, a fan favorite in New York. Elsewhere, Al Iafrate, a defenseman with the hardest shot in the league, and Craig Janney, the subject of a recent compensation dispute between the St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks, also changed addresses.

One day after the Flyers sent their only reserve defenseman to the minor leagues to get some work, Petr Svoboda went down in the first period of last night's game against Tampa Bay at the Spectrum with a pulled groin. The injury was thought to be a mild strain, but Svoboda is likely to be sidelined for a week or two. The defenseman had four assists in 11 games and was plus-3 in the plus-minus ratings. Because of the injury, the Flyers are likely to recall Darren Rumble for tomorrow night's game against Florida at the Spectrum.